This Teenage Hospital Worker Correctly Gendered a Trans Patient and the Staff’s Toxic Reaction Will Make Your Blood Boil

Going to the hospital is terrifying enough on its own. You are sitting in a cold room in a paper gown while strangers poke and prod at you. The absolute bare minimum you should expect from medical professionals is basic human dignity. But apparently some of the mean girls from high school simply grew up, got their nursing degrees, and brought their toxic clique mentality straight to the hospital floor. One nineteen year old worker on Reddit recently found herself in the middle of a massive workplace drama simply for treating a patient with respect.

The Original Poster is a nineteen year old woman who works at a hospital as an EKG technician and an occasional secretary. She is a self described quiet person who mostly stays in her cubicle and minds her own business. She actually got the job because her mom is a highly respected nurse at the exact same hospital. Because her mom is the queen bee of the ward, the other nurses and doctors are usually very sweet to the teenager.

The completely unnecessary drama started when a new patient arrived. The teenager was sitting at the secretary desk when she overheard the adult nurses gossiping about the patient in room 27. The chart had the patient listed under a male name, but the nurses were loudly whispering about how the patient says she is a woman and dresses like one. It was a blatant display of transphobia before the teenager even stepped foot in the room.

Part of the teenager’s job is changing the batteries for the heart rate monitors. She walked into room 27 and met the patient for the very first time. She immediately noted that the patient had a highly feminine appearance with makeup, long hair, and beautifully painted nails. The patient was also incredibly sweet, calling the teenager sugar and sweetheart. Remembering the nasty gossip at the front desk, the teenager decided to show some basic compassion and simply asked the patient if she had a different name she preferred to go by. The patient smiled with surprise and asked to be called Jasmine. From that moment on she was respectfully known as Miss Jasmine.

The teenager continued to visit Miss Jasmine during her shifts to do the routine battery changes. A couple of days later, Jasmine politely asked the teenager if she could tell the nurse she wanted some water. It was an incredibly simple request. The teenager said of course and walked back out to the nurses station to pass along the message.

Because she was entirely used to treating the patient like a human being, the teenager naturally used the name Jasmine when speaking to the nurse. The nurse gave her a highly exaggerated confused look and asked who she was talking about. The teenager calmly clarified she meant the patient in room 27. Instead of just getting the poor woman a cup of water, the nurse looked at the rest of her clique and they all started laughing. They mockingly asked if the teenager meant the guy who dresses like a woman.

Not wanting to start a massive fight in the middle of a hospital, the teenager kept things brief. She looked at the group of grown adults and simply said yes, that is her. By using the correct pronouns, the teenager accidentally triggered a deeply awkward silence. The nurses were absolutely stunned that the popular head nurse’s teenage daughter refused to join in on their cruel joke.

The teenager went back to work and brushed off the awkward encounter. But the nurses were incredibly triggered by a nineteen year old exhibiting more professionalism than they ever could. They immediately ran to the teenager’s mother to complain. On the car ride home after their shift, the mother completely unleashed on her daughter. She aggressively scolded the teenager for embarrassing her in front of her work friends.

The mother then dropped one of the most disgusting excuses for medical bigotry ever recorded. She told her daughter that she knows she just wants to be respectful, but at a hospital you have to forget about all that. Let us be incredibly clear. A hospital is the exact place where respect matters the absolute most. The mother also accused her daughter of trying to make the other nurse look like a transphobic a**hole. The nurse accomplished that entirely on her own.

The toxic workplace retaliation did not stop at a car ride lecture. Since that specific shift, the teenager has been getting called off from her scheduled work hours. They are actively cutting her shifts just to punish her. Her mother is now extremely upset and warning her that she might get permanently fired over the entire ordeal.

The internet completely rallied behind the teenager. She is absolutely not the a**hole for bringing a cup of water and a shred of dignity to a vulnerable patient. It is deeply concerning that a floor full of medical professionals is willing to jeopardize a young woman’s employment just because she refused to participate in their transphobic bullying. If anyone needs to be fired, it is the nurses gossiping at the front desk. How would you handle this toxic workplace? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!